The Best Year
by Lunadora LeStrange
Summary: The story of Lily and James' last year at Hogwarts. Chapters will be longer! Please be nice, this is the first fanfic I have written, but that does not mean to excuse any improper grammar if there are mistakes.
1. A Change

**Disclaimer:** Anything that you recognise: Characters, places, etc. , are all owned by the amazing J.K. Rowling!

Lily smiled to herself as she pinned the shiny Head Girl badge on to her school uniform. This was her last year at Hogwarts, and she was determined to make it her best year yet. Not only would she once again because top of the year with her grades, but she also wouldn't have to listen to James Potter's constant pick-up lines. It was going to be amazing. She had passed him several times while walking about the train already and he hadn't muttered one word to her. She was surprised at this so she stayed back after the prefect meeting to chat to him.

"So Potter, what's you deal?" she asked sternly.

"Don't know what you're talking about, Evans." He replied, relaxing more into his seat.

Lily sighed, "You most certainly do know what I'm talking about. You haven't used one of your crappy pick-up lines on me yet. What are you playing at? You better not be planning some other useless attempt to ask me out because it WILL NOT WORK!"

James chuckled to himself at how easily she got fired up, "Chill Evans. I've given up."

"What?" Lily looked confused.

"I mean, I've wasted every day of the last six years trying to ask you out, and you have rejected me again and again. So I've given up." He shrugged.

"Good. So you won't be asking me out anymore?" she questioned.

"No, I won't be. Unless that's a problem with you." He smiled flirtatiously at her.

"Argh! No, that is in no way a problem with me." She rose and left the compartment and went off to find an empty one to get changed into her robes in.


	2. The Sorting Ceremony

Student's filled the Great Hall at the commencement of the Start-of-Year feast. The ceiling was enchanted to look like the night sky, and the hall was decorated with all of the house colours and banners. Lily slowly made her way into the hall looking for the blonde locks of her best friend Marlene McKinnon at the Gryffindor table. When she spotted her, Lily rushed over and took a seat between her and her other best friend, Emmeline Vance.

"What took you so long to get down here?" Marlene asked as soon as Lily made contact with the seat.

"Oh, I ran into Potter on the way down." Lily sighed.

"I thought you said he wasn't going to ask you out anymore?" Emmeline asked.

"He didn't. He actually just wanted to organise a suitable time for us to meet to discuss the Prefect Patrols schedule."

"That's weird, I didn't think that Potter would put any effort into trying be a good Head Boy." Emmeline stated.

"Neither did I. If he's actually doing his job this year, as well as not asking me out, we might actually be able to work together this year as the Heads." Lily replied.

"Yeah maybe he might behave this year. We'll just have to wait and see. Oh, look the Sorting is about to start. "Marlene moved her attention over to Professor McGonnagal who was holding the Sorting Hat in her left hand and a list of first years' names in the other.

Silence fell across the Great Hall as McGonnagal cleared her throat.

"Ambers, Lucy."

A small frightened girl with brown hair made her way up to the wooden stool and took a seat as the hat was placed on her head. After a few moments of silence, 'RAVENCLAW!'

"Clearwater, Jennifer." 'RAVENCLAW!'

"Dean, Jakob." 'SLYTHERIN!'

"Dobbs, Felicity." 'HUFFLEPUFF!'

"Fletcher, Rose." 'GRYFFINDOR!'

A cheer erupted for the mentioned House Table after each student had been sorted. The same process was repeated with another five scared-looking 11 year olds.

At the end of the sorting ceremony, Lily rose to her feet and went over to where the Gryffindor First Years were sitting and introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm Lily. I am one of the Gryffindor prefects and I am also the Head Girl this year. Just let me know if you have any questions about anything and I will do my best to answer them." Lily smiled warmly at them and they all nodded so she went back to her seat and piled her plate with food.


	3. Just Checking

"Prefects, please lead your first years up to your common rooms and show them to their dorms." Dumbledore instructed at the conclusion of the feast.

Lily looked down the Gryffindor table and saw James rise to his feet, and so she copied his action and stood as well, ready to lead the first years.

"Okay first years, please follow me." James' voice boomed over the commotion in the Great Hall. The smallest students at the table turned to him and followed as he lead them out of the hall and up a set of stairs.

Lily rushed through the other students until she was up the front with James. "Now, you will have to take caution when ascending or descending the stairs because they do change and you don't want to end up in a forbidden corridor."

When they reached the portrait hole, James announced, "The password is 'flabbergast'. All you have to do if you want to enter the common room is tell The Fat Lady the password and she will let you through."

"But you aren't allowed to tell your friends from other houses what the password is though." Lily added.

"Oh yeah, that too." James smirked. "Flabbergast." He stated to the portrait before it swung open and revealed a cosy lounge room decorated in red and gold. He stepped aside so the other students could enter before himself.

"So Potter," Lily started as she moved over close to him and leaned against the wall, "You're still not going to ask me out? I didn't think you'd last this long." She smiled at him at looked up at him through her eyelashes.

James looked like he was struggling with himself not to ask her out while she was looking up at him so cutely, "I already told you. You have rejected me for six years and that's probably not going to change, so I have given up."

Lily looked down at the ground, "Okay, just checking." She smiled up at him again and then stepped through the portrait hole into the common room.


	4. Admitting

"So he's really not going to ask you out then?" asked Emmeline when the girls were up in their dorm room a few hours after the feast.

Lily shook her head, "Nope. But it looked like he was fighting himself to not ask me, so I'm just waiting for him to give in and ask."

Marlene smiled mischiefviously at Lily, "And what are you going to do if he cracks?"

"I am going to say no, and once again reject him!" Lily stated.

"So you still don't like him then?" Emmeline asked.

"No."

"What about all that talk of you maybe saying yes to him this year?" Marlene added.

Lily sighed to herself. Over the last year, she had actually started liking James. But only a little bit. Maybe all his years of using pick up lines on her had finally worked. She had thought about the pros and cons of dating him, and even talked about it with Em and Marlene, but still she hadn't decided what to do. She thought that maybe if he asked her out this year, she would say yes. But so far he hadn't and she was slightly disappointed to learn that he was not planning of using any corny pick-up lines on her at all this year.

Lily sighed, "Okay. Fine, maybe I do like him. Just a bit." She smiled to herself.


	5. E & R

Marlene squeeled and started jumping on her bed, "I knew it! I knew it!" while Emmeline smiled and hugged Lily.

"What are you going to do?" Emmeline asked, "He said he's not going to ask you out."

Lily sighed, "I know and I have no idea what I'm going to do." She slumped down onto her bed and Emmeline sat next to her.

"Just ask him out." Em smiled.

"Yeah Em's right! If you ask him he'll say yes." Marlene added.

"But what if he doesn't? I'm just going to be standing there feeling like a right loser for being rejected." Lily replied.

Marlene raised her eyebrows questioningly, "He is not going to say no. Have you seen the way that boy looks at you? It's hilarious, his face goes blank and he is completely oblivious to what is going on around him. He just fixes his eyes on you."

Em nodded, "I've seen it too. He doesn't snap out of it until you are out of sight, or until Black hits him and drags him away down the corridor."

Lily mutely nodded, "Hey that reminds me. Do you still have the hots for Black, Mar?" she looked at Marlene and smirked.

Marlene's face blushed red.

"Well I think that answers the question," Emmeline smirked.

Marlene growled, "Well seeing as we're all sharing," she turned her frown to a sweet fake smile, "Why doesn't little miss Emmeline Vance tell us why she was sneaking into the dorm room at two o'clock on a Tuesday morning?"

Em's face turned a deep shade of red, "I was doing me patrols." She lied and had quickly shot Lily a look hoping that she would lie for her too.

Lily looked like she was thinking hard and then smiled, "Ah no you weren't Emmy dearest. I'm fairly sure Jane Greengrass and Remus were patrolling."

"No Remus wasn't, it was Josh Clearwater." Em corrected.

"And how do you know that?" Lily and Marlene turned to her.

The red shade of Em's face spread down to her next while the other two stared at her. "Argh!" she screamed, "Fine! I was with Remus."

Marlene and Lily squealed and began singing, "Em and Remus, Remus and Em. Emmeline Lupin. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" Lily looked at Em and smiled.

"So what were you and Remus doing until two o'clock in the morning?" Lily questioned.

"Talking." Em whispered.

"Anything else?" Marlene asked smirking.

"Oh come on, you know what we were doing. We were kissing. Okay? Is that a good enough answer for you?" Emmeline exploded.

Lily hugged her, "So are you to dating now or something?"

Em looked at Lily and smiled, "Yes!" and she hugged her friend back.

"That's great Em! Do the rest of The Marauders know?" Marlene asked.

Em nodded, "Yeah I think so." She looked at her watch. It was 10 o'clock. She looked at her friends and stood up. "Now if you don't mind I have to go and meet Remus." And she left their room.


	6. Absurd Hours of the Night

**Disclaimer:** Anything you recognise: Characters, places, etc., belong to the amazing J.K. Rowling.

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><p>"I'm so happy for her." Lily sighed to Marlene after Emmeline had left to meet Remus in the now dark common room.<p>

"Yeah, me too. Remus is actually really nice, unlike the rest of the Marauders." Mar replied.

Lily nodded in agreeance, "You know what we should do? Go up to the Marauder's dorm room and make sure they aren't getting Remus to play Em."

"Nah I don't think he would do that. Let's just go to sleep." Marlene stood up and saw a look of slight disappointment on Lily's face. "Or maybe we should go actually. Just to check."

Lily's face brightened, "Yeah, and you can see Black while we're there."

"And you can see Potter. But I'm just assuming that that is the only reason you wanted to go and visit them this late at night."

Lily dropped her head and looked at the ground, "Okay, yes it was. Now let's go. We can hopefully chill up there for a while and do some brutal flirting." She smiled and looked at her appearance in the mirror. She pulled the bottoms of her black short shorts down slightly and brushed imaginary dirt off of her red singlet.

Marlene too, checked her appearance in the mirror and admire her spaghetti strap blue cotton nightie. "Let's go."

Lily nodded and they exited there room and made their way over to the set of stairs to the boys dorms and then went up to the Marauder's room.

Marlene knocked on the door lightly and Sirius opened the door wearing only a pair of jeans and smiled at her. He then turned to James who sitting in his bed also shirtless, and said, "Well Prongs, looks like we have visitors."

Lily looked in and saw James smiling back at her. "Where's Peter?" she asked.

"Oh he's still down in the library studying. He's been doing that a lot lately. And Remus is off kissing Emmeline in some deserted corridor." James replied.

Sirius ushered them into the room and locked the door behind them. "So ladies, take a seat. How can we help you?"

Lily bit down on her lower lip nervously and went and sat on the end of James' bed with her legs crossed, while Marlene when and sat in the unmade bed next to James' which just so happened to be Sirius'.

"Excuse me Miss McKinnon, but would you mind removing yourself from my bed?" Sirius asked and Marlene blushed.

"No Mr Black I am quite comfortable right here." She said in a posh voice and smiled.

"Okay, fine." Sirius replied and climbed in next to her, pulling the covered up.

"So what brings you ladies up here at this absurb hour of the night?" James asked and smiled at Lily.

"Well, it's about Em and Remus." Lily replied.

Sirius looked at the girls, "What about them?"

"We just wanted to make sure that you didn't ask Remus to go out with Emmeline just as a prank or something? Because she really likes him." Said Marlene, watching Sirius next to her carefully.

James and Sirius looked shocked and then James looked at the two Gryffindor girls, "I know we have played a lot of really evil pranks in the past, but we wouldn't do something like that." James said seriously and looked at Lily, "Remus actually likes Em a lot. We wouldn't do anything to ruin that for him."

Lily smiled at James and felt her cheeks going red at his gaze, "Okay. Thank you, we just wanted to check."

"Well now that that's been sorted out, would you two ladies like a beverage?" Sirius asked and leaned over Marlene to pull a bottle of Firewhisky out of his top draw.

"Argh, Black get off me!" Marlene pushed him away from her playfully.

Sirius chuckled, "Oh come on McKinnon. We're already in bed together, why not take it further?" he smiled and snaked an arm around her waist.

Mar's cheeks blushed crimson and she looked down and became focused on a lose thread on the Gryffindor-coloured quilt cover.

Sirius leaned in and kissed her on the lips and Mar kissed him back with just as much passion.

Lily blushed, just witnessing their kiss and she awkwardly looked at James. He was already looking at her.

"So, I'm guessing Sirius likes Marlene?" Lily asked.

"Since last year. But he was afraid she hated him." He replied, "Kind of the opposite of me really. I asked you out, even though I knew that you hated me."

"I didn't hate you." She whispered.

"What?" James looked confused.

"I said, I didn't hate you." Lily repeated herself, louder this time.

James looked shocked, "Then why did you always say that you did and why did you humiliate me so much when I asked you out."

"You were just so annoying, always asking me out. Every spare moment you had was spent trying to get me to date you. Humiliating you was kind of like pay-back for the embarrassment you caused me when you asked me out in front of everyone in the corridors." She replied.

"Well I'm sorry." Was all James could say. "That's part of the reason I stopped trying to get you to agree to go on a date with me. Because I know you hate people looking at you and that you're self-conscious – although you have no reason to be because you are beautiful – and I was just drawing more attention to you by asking you out. Again I'm sorry."

Lily was stunned, "Did you just say I was beautiful?"

For the first time, James blushed, "Yeah, well you are, you know."

Lily smiled and decided to flirt a little, "Thank you. You don't look that bad yourself." She quickly glance up at him, "So do you still have a crush on me?"

James shook his head and Lily's heart dropped. Just when she had begun to like him back, he decided that he didn't like her anymore. James noticed that she looked disappointed, "No. I've never had a crush on you. I love you." He smiled and looked hopefully into her gorgeous green eyes.

"Really?" Lily squeaked.

"Really." He continued looking into her eyes until she looked away and down at her legs.

"Well I think I kind of might like you. I don't know if I love you yet though." She whispered, "I'm sorry."

She looked up and saw that James was grinning at her, "It doesn't matter if you don't love me. Yet, anyway. At least you're giving me a bit of hope." He leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek but she turned at the last moment and he was kissing her lips.

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><p><strong>AN: Just so you know, the story will continue for a few more chapters, so never fear, this is not the end. Also, reviews would be lovely.**


	7. At Last

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise.**

**I am sorry, but this is the last chapter I will be writing for this story. Please read and review and I am so sorry that it took me so long to upload.**

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><p>James quickly pulled away, "I'm sorry, if you didn't want me to kiss you."<p>

"If I didn't want you to? I've been waiting for a while for a chance to kiss you." Lily smirked at him.

"Oh really," he leaned towards her to kiss her again.

"Wait. Not just yet." Lily said and turned towards Sirius and Marlene who were stilling snogging like mad. "If you two don't mind," she raised her voice slightly, "We will be in my room chatting and sorting some things out."

James smiled, "But how am I going to get into your room, the stairs turn into a slide whenever a guy tries to get in."

Lily laughed, "Don't act all innocent and clueless now, I already know that you fly up into the girls dormitory."

James looked slightly ashamed, "Yeah, well… Just let me grab my broom." He pulled out his broom from under his bed."

"Why isn't it out in the broom shed?" Lily questioned.

"Well I do so much Quidditch practise that it's just easier if I keep it here, and Dumbledore agrees."

Lily nodded, "Okay let's go."

"Miss Evans, would you care to fly with me?"

"Why, yes Mr Potter. I would love to." She smiled and opened the door and closed it after them.

James mounted the broom and Lily did the same, putting her arms around his waist. James smiled to himself. Never did he think that he would be this close to Lily or even flying with her without her having a fit. Together they flew up to Lily's room.

As they entered, Lily whispered a locking charm on the door and Muffliato-ed the room, being quiet so that James wouldn't hear her doing so.

James placed his broom on the floor near the bed that he knew was Lily's from so many nights sneaking up into her room while she was asleep.

He turned around and Lily through her arms around his neck and kissed passionately.

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><p><strong>Please read and review!<strong>


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